De Silva: Our fans have been great this season

Ahead of Sunday’s clash against Perth Glory at Central Coast Stadium, Danny De Silva has praised the passionate Yellow & Navy supporters for their impact at home this season.

This week, De Silva was rewarded for his sensational start to the season by earning a nomination for the Hyundai A-League, NAB Young Footballer of the Year 2017/18 Award.

In all four of the Mariners home games so this season, De Silva says that the support from the stands has been immense and is hoping that will continue on Sunday against his old club, Perth Glory.

“We’re coming off the back of a good win and we’re really starting to gel nicely together,” De Silva said. “A lot of games this season we should have won, we haven’t but we’re a strong team together both mentally and physically.

“We go into this game like every other game and that’s with a mindset to win. We’re playing great football and I’m really looking forward to it on Sunday.

“Being at home with the great fans that we have, it’s always a bonus for us players but for sure – we’re excited. We love playing at Central Coast Stadium,” De Silva said.

Despite winning an individual award, the humble 20-year-old midfield maestro was quick to shift the praise to the players around him for the stellar run of form so far.

De Silva’s focus is firmly on improving the team’s performances.

“I am in a really good team with a great playing style with great players around me so it makes playing football much easier,” De Silva said. “To be honest – winning an award like this really hasn’t been on my mind. When I started off in the A-League I still had a lot to learn, I still have a lot to learn now but my game has matured a little bit.

“The goal is to keep taking steps forward, keep working hard in training and keep helping the team to victories. That’s what I’m going to keep trying to do so we can keep winning more games, the focus is on the team’s performance as a whole.

“My focus is not on winning individual awards, it’s all about being able to help the team to win more football games, play good football and become a better player so if something good comes from that, that’s fantastic,” De Silva said.

De Silva found the back of the net in the Mariners 4-1 win over Wellington and says that the result was a just reward for their hard work.

“That win against Wellington was a long time coming,” De Silva said. “In all the games, we’ve played we have created a lot of opportunities to score and finish the game off but for whatever reason we haven’t always done that.

“Against Wellington we were able to do that and put our chances away to win the game so that’s what we want to keep doing moving forward and if we continue to do that we will be very dangerous this season,” De Silva said.